Representative Anulewicz Listens to the Voices of Franklin Gateway

YELLS teens were honored to host our local House District 42 State Representative, Teri Anulewicz, for a Listening Session in their Community Action Cafe. It was a wonderful opportunity for Franklin Gateway residents to learn more about decisions that impact our lives at the State level and also provide a forum to share the issues that matter most to us.

Teens welcomed and networked with community members, including our City of Marietta Councilman Joseph Goldstein. YELLS youth and families were thrilled to take their pictures with our local leaders, as were our AmeriCorps VISTA Members, Versandra and Chris!

And no community meeting is complete without our youth promoting their service projects. Mentoring Program Big, Miguel, shared details about his group’s Community Soccer Clinic (March 24) and Tournament (May 5). As a soccer player and a YELLS youth since he was a “Little,” Miguel knows how teamwork is key to building community, so he knew soccer was the perfect way to bring his neighbors on Franklin Gateway together. We hope you’ll join us for some friendly competition and community-building!

Teens Ansleigh and Zach thanked Representative Anulewicz and asked her to leave her thumbprint as a symbol of her connection to our community. We appreciated the opportunity for our community’s voices to be heard, and look forward to continuing to provide opportunities for Franklin Gateway residents to be civically engaged!

Digital Literacy Class for Adults at YELLS

Join us for Technology 101 and get on your way to becoming computer savvy! We’ll be offering this digital literacy class on two different dates – February 8 and February 10. At this intro class, attendees will share their interest and availability for additional classes and topics as well! Email community@YELLSinc.org to save your seat! Please see the flyer below for more details:

We’re lucky to have incredible partners to bring this series to our Franklin Gateway community. The WorkSource Cobb / CobbWorks Literacy Council generously funded the laptops and technology to offer these classes at YELLS. Additionally, the amazing Rolando Godoy of Compmunity Foundation is donated his time and expertise.

Funder Spotlight: Cobb EMC Community Foundation

Here at YELLS, we like to celebrate each and every member of our family. As a part of our funder spotlight we are “shouting out” some of the different people and organizations that help us empower our community. This month, we’re so excited to shine a light on our partners, the Cobb EMC Community Foundation, who have been such generous supporters of YELLS and all our Franklin Gateway youth!

The Cobb EMC Community Foundation is provided by the generous customers of Cobb EMC through their program “Operation Round-Up.” By rounding up their monthly bills, these customers enable the Cobb EMC Community Foundation to provide funding to worthy organizations like us each month. Thank you to all Cobb EMC customers – through your support we are truly able to use pennies to make a difference in the lives of the community.

The YELLS family is proud to have been buoyed by our friends at the Cobb EMC Community Foundation this January with funds we used to ensure YELLS is open to empower our youth and community! With the support of the Cobb EMC Community Foundation, YELLS launched a 2018 full of activities and achievement. Their investment supports our rent costs, allowing us to keep our doors open day and night with services for youth and families on Franklin Gateway. In addition to our daily Afterschool Program and Community Action Cafe, in January we launched a new session of three levels of ESL classes, invited the Cobb Education Consortium to lead a Youth Leadership & Career Prep Workshop for teens, celebrated success at our Achievement Club Graduation, and much more.

These opportunities would not be available for our community without the generous support of community champions like the Cobb EMC Community Foundation and all of our other generous supporters, so on behalf of the YELLS family, Thank You!!!

Community Transcends Language

What do youth from Niger or the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire have in common with Franklin Gateway youth who enroll on the YELLS Community Action Café program? They each want to live happy, healthy lives.

YELLS teens were lucky to welcome our guests from across the ocean traveling with the SportsUnited program! Thanks to the U.S. Department of State’s SportsUnited division, youth from around the world tap into the positive global power of sports diplomacy to bridge differences between people of different backgrounds. Through sports exchanges, SportsUnited aims to create opportunities for young people and marginalized communities in every corner of the world.

When our guests from the Ivory Coast arrived, YELLS youth gave them the opportunity to experience an afternoon in America. Despite the language barrier, within less than an hour, all youth were having fun and communicating. Everyone learned the power of relationships, as well as the power of nonverbal communication. The time spent together was filled with memorable moments that broke out in laughter and even dance. Even with language differences, there were no barriers to communicating love and friendship.

Bringing School and Community Together

This Thanksgiving, we have much to be thankful for. On the top of the list is our partnership with Marietta City Schools. We’re proud to collaborate with them to help our Franklin Gateway community feel how special, different, and better our school system is!

There’s no better way than a Thanksgiving meal to bring people together, so we were thrilled when our friends at Marietta City Schools asked to host a Community Dinner for our Franklin Gateway community at YELLS. MCS staff worked tirelessly to bring a full banquet with all the Thanksgiving favorites to over one hundred parents and children. Families had the opportunity to ask questions while building relationships with the Marietta City Schools team.

This event was preceded the week before with a special visit from both our amazing Superintendent, Dr. Grant Rivera and Board of Education members Jeriene Grimes, Kerry Minervini, and Irene Berens. YELLS parents and teens learned about new initiatives to support student success, like SAT prep and Early Learning.

This #OurNextSteps event was an extension of the #OurFirstSteps initiative this summer, where Marietta City Schools staff and community partners went door-to-door visiting the homes of students throughout Marietta. It’s clear that Marietta City Schools truly walks the walk when it comes to engaging with our Franklin Gateway community!

Student Spotlight: Joaquin Santana & Zacchaeus Johnson

YELLS Community Action Cafe CEO, Zacchaeus Johnson, and Director of Marketing, Joaquin Santana, recently had the opportunity to represent Franklin Gateway in a two high-profile events within Cobb County. The two Cafe veterans first spoke at a Cobb County Commissioners meeting in front of the whole board and followed this by accepting an award on behalf of YELLS from the Cobb County NAACP during their 36th annual Oscar Freeman Freedom Fund Banquet. With their ability to speak and network with any member of their community and their drive to speak for a higher cause, these two gentlemen demonstrate what leadership is as envisioned by Youth Empowerment through Learning, Leading, and Leading.

The Oscar Freeman Freedom Fund Banquet, whose theme for this year was NAACP – Steadfast & Unmovable, selected YELLS in the category of “Youth Achievement,” and it was clear that these young men best exemplified this value. Attending with out YELLS Americorps VISTA members, Versandra Kennebrew and Chris Salley, the teens had the opportunity to meet and network with Deane Bonner, President Cobb County NAACP, Lisa Cupid, Cobb County Commissioner, and Jeriene Grimes, Marietta City School Board of Education Member.

Zacchaeus and Joaquin were perfect models for their peers as they spoke eloquently in front of a full session of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners. They specifically requested that younger YELLS members join them at this meeting so others could learn how to represent their Cafe and community. Joaquin and Zacchaeus are veterans who are passionate about YELLS and committed to ensuring the next generations lead with strength after they graduate this year. They are currently mentoring other teens on their Apprenticeship Teams to step up in their leadership roles and build a legacy of strong voices within the Cafe that are powerful enough to be heard throughout Atlanta.

Funder Spotlight: Cobb Community Foundation Impact Grant

Our YELLS Family is fortunate to be embraced by our friends at the Cobb Community Foundation. Shari Martin, Mayor Tommy Allegood, and their team are incredible community champions, always willing to give their time and support, and truly living up to their motto of “helping others help others.” They generously offered their time, talent, and space to host our YELLS Networking Dinner last spring at the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. They always go above and beyond!

We’ve been honored to earn the Cobb Community Foundation’s Impact grant for multiple years, allowing us to stretch our services and grow our impact through supporting our YELLS Mentoring Program and YELLS Scholars Initiative. This year, the Cobb Community Foundation allowed for us to bring back our popular and very much needed YELLS Summer of Success Program. Their support certainly made an IMPACT for our youth and families…

YELLS Summer of Success

Parents could work in the summer knowing their kids were safe and learning in a six-week summer camp that empowered youth with high-energy leadership and service learning experiences and hands-on STEAM and literacy lessons. Through the support of the Cobb Community Foundation’s Impact Grant, we closed the achievement gap and accelerated learning while building community this summer.

We kicked off the summer with a massive scavenger hunt, ending in youth decoding our theme: Working Together to Uplift Others.

Books and Breakfast: Family Literacy Initiative

Early mornings before Summer Camp began, parents and their children would gather around a book together to foster a shared love for reading. Over breakfast, parents learned tips from a literacy expert on how they could help their child read and create a space that promotes learning and literacy at home. Then, parents and children could pick a book and read together. This shared reading promotion and celebration created a culture of learning and increased direct reading contact time, while positively shaping youths’ perceptions of reading and building camaraderie amongst families.

Leadership and Learning

Each day was filled with leadership and learning. Youth enjoyed interactive STEAM lessons with volunteers from Lassiter High School, and customized literacy tutoring with volunteers from Achieve through Education. Plenty of volunteers and a team of AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associates made all this possible. Every day offered a new team challenge that fostered collaboration and positivity. Youth even had a special visit from their Altanta United hero, Michael Parkhurst!

Thank you, Cobb Community Foundation! You truly made an impact on our Franklin Gateway community this summer! We appreciate all you do for us and non-profits throughout Cobb County.

Partner Spotlight: Genuine Parts Company

Our YELLS kids had a blast with team members and summer interns from the Genuine Parts Company! YELLS partnered with volunteers from Genuine Parts Company for a day of fun and engineering.

During this STEAM Day, youth were challenged to design a Plastic Bottle Car. This began with our YELLS Community Action Cafe teens and Genuine Parts interns teaming up to brainstorm how they’d present this challenge to our K-5th grade youth and facilitate learning through the process. Teens and GPC volunteers built strong bonds as they worked together to teach the little ones how to build their cars.

It got a little competitive, too! Each team of teens, GPC volunteers, and youth were sure their Bottle Car would win the race, and they developed team cheers as they prepared for the final competition. Excitement was high as each team released their car, but in the end, everyone was a winner! Our kiddos learned new skills while building relationships with their new friends at Genuine Parts Company!

Franklin Fair brings together youth, community, fire fighters, and police

Imagine Marietta police officers and fire fighters competing in an eating contest against the youth of Franklin Gateway. Imagine a tug-a-war competition between apartment complexes. Each year, community partners, volunteers, and families of Franklin Gateway come together for the YELLS Franklin Fair. It is a day full of high energy and laughter, and it’s planned and led entirely by YELLS Mentoring Program youth. Bigs and Littles hosted the 5^th annual Franklin Fair after months of planning, writing proposal letters, and soliciting partners and support.

This year, our Marietta Police Department and Marietta Fire Department partners were great sports! They participated alongside neighborhood kids in a pie eating contest, water balloon toss, and definitely took the prize in tug-of-war.

As our youth give back to their community, they grow as servant-leaders themselves. Donte is about to graduate and has been in YELLS all four years of his high school career. He’s been a part of the Franklin Fair team, and he shares how leading this event has impacted his own life: “Before YELLS, I never thought I would get a chance to make change and actually be happy while doing it. Four years in, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve hosted events and met important people that I never thought I would meet. YELLS is the dream I had when I was younger brought to life.”

Franklin Gateway Soccer Tournament: Saturday, May 6

Mentoring Program Bigs will bring the community together through a soccer tournament between Franklin Gateway Apartment Complexes this Saturday, May 6 at 10:00 am at the Gallery Apartments.

This builds on a successful event planned and led by our YELLS Bigs in March that brought neighbors out for a day of soccer skill-building and relationship-building. Their months of planning and hard work paid off! Their event was even featured in an Atlanta Journal Constitution article. Thanks Marietta PAL, Soccer in the Streets, Atlanta United FC, and Kroger for your support of supplies and mentoring to help make this a successful event!

: Make that goal!

: Miguel teaches youth to juggle

: Atlanta United swag

: A team huddles up to create their chant

: Kimberly on the mic!

: Everyone rushes to sign up their team for the tournament!

Franklin Gateway families enjoyed a day of fun while connecting with their neighbors.

: Teams huddle up

The Franklin Gateway community’s excitement about soccer is amplified by the arrival of our new neighbors, Atlanta United FC. Our youth were pumped to finally get to check out the pitch at the Grand Opening event at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground.

Go Team YELLS!